COVID-19: Bangladesh seeks increased support from China with PPE, ventilators

COVID-19: Bangladesh seeks increased support from China with PPE, ventilators

Chinese celebrity doctor Zhang joins videoconference

UNB

8th April, 2020 04:44:08

Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Wednesday sought increased support from China as the number of coronavirus cases is rising in Bangladesh.

He mentioned about personal protective equipment and ventilators, saying Bangladesh would be needing more support.

The Health Minister was speaking in a videoconference between health professionals from Bangladesh and China.

He also appreciated China's support to Bangladesh to fight against COVID-19 and hoped that the relations between the two countries will be strengthened.

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming laid emphasis on collective efforts saying this virus respects no borders. "We all must work together."

He said a medical team will soon be arriving in Bangladesh to help deal with the current situation.

Ambassador Jiming said he has every confidence that Bangladesh will win in this battle against coronavirus.

Dr Zhang Wenhong, Professor and Head of the Center for Infectious Disease, Huashan Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai, shared his experience about the coronavirus pandemic.

The participants from six different locations exchanged their ideas and laid emphasis on international cooperation.

As the Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine of Fudan University in Shanghai, Dr Zhang is the leader of Shanghai’s Anti-COVID-19 clinical expert team.

He has extensive experience with the diagnosis and treatment of various emerging infectious diseases, according to Chinese Embassy in Dhaka.

Dr Zhang is a graduate of Shanghai Medical University and has held visiting scholar and postdoctoral fellow positions at the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, Harvard Medical School and Illinois State University at Chicago.

He has gained tens of millions of followers on social media and been dubbed “Dad Zhang” for his outspoken, down-to-earth talk about the disease.

The 51-year-old first started getting attention at the end of January when he told media he assigned doctors who were Communist Party members to work at a hospital on the front line of the coronavirus outbreak in Shanghai.